Ziggy Marley to open Summer Music Series

By Ed Hannan, Sun Correspondent

Updated:
03/19/2014 01:37:02 PM EDT

Ziggy Marley

"Tomorrow People" won't have to wait any longer to purchase tickets to see five-time Grammy-winning musician Ziggy Marley as tickets are on sale now for his Lowell Summer Music Series season-opening performance on Thursday, June 19, at 7:30 p.m.

Marley, who is, of course, the son of reggae legend Bob Marley, has amazingly built a quarter-century career of his own. While his band, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, first hit the charts in the late 1980s with "Tomorrow People," reaching No. 39 on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1988, he's been recording and performing ever since.

The 45-year-old Ziggy and his siblings first sat in on recording sessions with his father's band, Bob Marley and the Wailers when he was 10 years old. They then formed the Melody Makers in 1979, a group which blended blues, R&B, hip-hop and roots reggae until they broke up in 2002. Since then, Ziggy has embarked on a successful solo career.

He's toured with and recorded with everyone from Sheryl Crow, Train and O.A.R., to Jack Johnson, Willie Nelson and Paul Simon. He's involved with a number of charities and recently reclaimed most of the published rights to his father's music from EMI.

These days, Ziggy splits his time between houses in Florida, Jamaica and California.

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Ziggy Marley comes to the Boarding House Park in Lowell on Thursday, June 19, at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Lowell Summer Music Series. Tickets are $39 in advance, $45 day of the concert and available at lowellsummermusic.org.

Get in your "Cars"

Thirty-five years after Gary Numan raced up the American pop charts with the infectious New Age-era hit "Cars," the electro/industrial music legend is still going strong.

Gary Numan

Numan comes to the Paradise in Boston on Monday night and in advance of the show, which supports last year's album Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind), we chatted by email last week about his career. Here are some highlights.

I asked Numan how it feels to be known for such an iconic song as "Cars" and whether he liked the Fear Factory cover of it a decade or so ago.

"For a long time, it seemed to hold me back, to be the song that defined my career, so I almost grew to resent it," Numan said. "It seemed to overshadow everything that came along afterwards. I realized a long time ago that was a childish way to feel. I think most songwriters would give their right arm to have written something so iconic so I now feel very proud of it.

"But, the truth is, it really doesn't define my music at all. Most of my music has been very different to 'Cars' which was probably the only 'pop' song I ever wrote. There have been many different cover versions of 'Cars' over the years, but I really liked the Fear Factory cover version. I thought they did a great job."

Numan moved to the United States in 2012 from his native England and has moved to an American management team, which he says has improved his profile here significantly.

"People coming to the gigs on this Splinter tour often seem to be more familiar with the newer songs than they do with the older. I see that as an incredibly large step forward for my career and may even see me finally moving out of the shadow of 'Cars.' "